SHARK VS SHARK

Common threshervsWhite shark

Length, weight and bite evidence—plus context from a human, city bus and blue whale. Every number below carries its uncertainty with it.

LivingAlopias vulpinus×LivingCarcharodon carcharias
QUICK VERDICT

Common thresher is about 1.27× longer by these reference values.

Common thresher uses a 7.6 m upper reference, compared with 6 m for White shark. White shark's weight reference is about 6.7× heavier.

01

ON THE SAME SCALE

Human. Bus. Whale.
Pick your reference.

RELATIVE LENGTH · 0–24 METERS
ACommon thresherreported to 7.6 m / 24.9 ft
BWhite sharkabout 6 m / 20 ft
REFAdult human1.8 m · about 80 kg

Length bars use upper comparison values and do not show body depth, tail proportion or typical adult size. A long thresher tail, for example, does not equal whale-shark body mass.

02

THE NUMBERS

Side by side.

MeasureCommon thresherWhite shark
Length referencereported to 7.6 m / 24.9 ftabout 6 m / 20 ft
Weight referencerecorded over 340 kg / 750 lbreported to about 2,268 kg / 5,000 lb
Bite forceNo dependable maximum foundUnknownabout 18,000 NModeled
HabitatTemperate and tropical open watersTemperate seas worldwide
DietSchooling fishes and squidFish, rays and marine mammals
03

WHAT THE DATA CAN SAY

Size is not the whole animal.

Length and weight

Common thresher is represented by reported to 7.6 m / 24.9 ft; White shark by about 6 m / 20 ft. Length comparisons can exaggerate body bulk because the tail is exceptionally long. Maximum length and mass are exceptional upper-end figures.

Bite evidence

Common thresher: Its hunting performance cannot be reduced to jaw force. White shark: A 3-D finite-element model predicted the bite of a very large individual; it was not measured on a living shark.

Living versus extinct

Both species are living, but record-sized individuals are rare. These upper references should not be read as normal adult size.

Ecology changes the matchup

Much of its length is tail, which it uses to stun prey. Its headline bite number is a computer model, not a live-animal measurement.

04

TRACE THE CLAIMS

Sources and limits.

Common thresherFlorida MuseumWhite sharkWroe et al. (2008) + Florida MuseumHow we standardize comparisonsRead the methodology →